The Catacombs Viewmaster
War Games

This is the US Talking Viewmaster, serial TB451. It included the same booklet as BB 451, plus an additional fold-out mail order form.

The disc was essentially a vinyl record, transparent so the frames could be viewed through the both discs. GAF introduced the talking viewmaster in 1970, with a special player that had a "sound button"; when pressed it played a short audio clip. The sound was poor quality. Talking Viewmasters were discontinued in 1981, although superior versions appeared later.

Cover. All Talking Viewmaster sets had the same cover design, with a sidebar, large photo and two smaller photos. The box is a card sleeve, 20 x 21 cm (same size as the UK Album), around a plastic tray, which slides out left or right.

Back cover. All Talking Viewmaster sets have exactly the same back. The back cover showed the 3 viewers- the standard (no volume control), the electronic/lighted (volume control and internal light), and the projector.

The top and bottom of the card sleeve (1.5cm). The serial number, TB451, appears on one side.

The plastic tray contains the three reels, plus the booklet, which also appeared in the regular set BB 451.

The Viewmaster reels. They are identical to the regular reels, with the clear transparent disc behind. The transparent disc is actually a phonograph record with grooves; the Talking Viewmaster player has a stylus which reads the grooves and plays the sound. Here the US talking reel is alongside a UK reel, which has different markings and text.

The booklet hides a view master order form, which folds out to list all the available regular reels (including BB 451) and talking reels. Regular Viewmaster packets with 3 reels are $1.75. Talking Viewmaster packets are $2.99. The basic talking Viewmaster viewer is priced at $14.49.

Contents copyright Martin Willey